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Would a tariff hike kill pinball?

johnwhitfield

johnwhitfield

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Just been reading an article about the impact of the new US tariffs on Chinese goods and in particular the effect on clothing etc. (general gist is the average punter somehow didn’t appreciate they would be the one’s paying the final cost.)

If the UK is next in the firing line and assuming it triggered a retaliatory hike in uk tariffs against US goods then how many of us would absorb the hike and still buy a NIB game?

I’m already out now the premiums have sailed past 10k but would people still buy their dream themes if they shot up by say another 2.5 to 3 grand? Or would it kill the market stone dead overnight?
 
I've talked about pricing before but I've become a little tired of all the price discussion in the hobby now, there's not many free hobbies or entertainment. This hobby can be a fairly expensive one but also one you tend to get more of your money back than a lot of things especially if you pay for an activity rather than goods, you never get that money back you're just paying for the entertainment. Potential tariffs are something new but it's still really the same discussion, prices go up, will you still buy?

I'll be buying less NIB games going forward but that's because I feel like I've now caught up with having the modern games I wanted to try at home. Some have stayed, some have been sold to try something new or revisit a previous game I've enjoyed. I'll probably still buy 1-2 NIB a year going forward unless the used market truly comes to a halt and moving games on is impossible or at such a price reduction I don't feel like I've got my money's worth anymore.
 
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Don't all of sterns electronics ( probably all of the manufacturers ) come from china? if so machines will shoot up in price even without uk getting tariffs directly.
 
Sgt GrizZ said:
Old age more likely to as us lot shuffle off 😅 Will enough of the next generation(s) be dropping £10k+ on a big lump of wood and lights ? The times they are a changin
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100% this, the biggest killer or pinball is when pinball enthusiasts start dying off. No matter what anyone says there are no where near enough younger generation to keep the big manufacturers in business, it will be dark days in 20 years time!!!
 
I'm already out of NIB because of current prices, but more specifically sell on prices, so any further increases are just going to reaffirm that.

I was fine losing £1k after a year, but it's much more now.

I think prices will be increasing regardless of any UK tariffs.
 
the hobby is circling around the drain once the bulk of the punters start getting too infirm to play. There’s probably going to be a glut of second hand machines coming into the market in 10-15 years times. Great for younger collectors.

With the tariff thing it wouldn’t be a gradual increase but a huge one off increase. I can’t justify prices at moment let alone with that type of price jump.
 
Only have to look at the E.M market so see where we are headed, apart from a handful of collectable titles, there mostly pretty cheap, and thats with people more interested in solid state going back and picking them up out of curiosity.

Enjoy them now, the kids won't want em
 
johnwhitfield said:
Just been reading an article about the impact of the new US tariffs on Chinese goods and in particular the effect on clothing etc. (general gist is the average punter somehow didn’t appreciate they would be the one’s paying the final cost.)

If the UK is next in the firing line and assuming it triggered a retaliatory hike in uk tariffs against US goods then how many of us would absorb the hike and still buy a NIB game?

I’m already out now the premiums have sailed past 10k but would people still buy their dream themes if they shot up by say another 2.5 to 3 grand? Or would it kill the market stone dead overnight?
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I got an email from a shipping company yesterday to let me know that any product made in China whether new or used was subject to a 10% tariff upon entry to the US

There’s a lot of Chinese made stuff in pins, if the tariffs remain, I fully expect a 5-10% rise on what is already an expensive product. I doubt most people will stomach that
 
I've no stats on this but, I'm sure half of all machines made by Stern are exported. Surely they'd be better off moving production to another country for European and rest of the world markets and paying the import duty into the US on the parts they needed to supply the states ?
 
ian866 said:
I've no stats on this but, I'm sure half of all machines made by Stern are exported. Surely they'd be better off moving production to another country for European and rest of the world markets and paying the import duty into the US on the parts they needed to supply the states ?
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But then they couldn't have the made in America sticker on the top left.
 
Might not be a bad thing. If people stop buying Sterns because they jump up £3/4k overnight then maybe the UK market will perk up a bit.

20 years ago, when Stern were pumping out 2 average games a years, people just rotated their line ups regularly, and far fewer people hoarded pins. I bought a CV, TOTAN, AFM, IJ, MM, TOM, Met, Tron, TAF, TZ, Scared Stiff all off this forum within a few years of each other. Can't remember the last time I saw some of those for sale
 
I heard Stern new boss say that they’ve had to keep their prices pegged back for the last few years. However they do expect to raise prices soon. He said this before any tariff comes into place..
 
Kenny Taylor said:
I heard Stern new boss say that they’ve had to keep their prices pegged back for the last few years. However they do expect to raise prices soon. He said this before any tariff comes into place..
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Stern already itching to increase prices because it's been a while, machines inevitably going up with the introduction of spike 3 AND increases due to Chinese parts costing more....

200w.gif
 
If you think about it logically, what Donald has done is given the green light to every single US based manufacturing company to look for cheaper sourced manufacturing / labour outside of the US, blaming the hike in import duty as the driver and only way to keep costs the same for the consumer.

The US will plummet into major depression within two years if he implements his policies.

But then again, who has major manufacturing establishments already operating in China, his best mate Elon, so they can ride into the sunset happily holding hands and counting the cash while the rest of the US starves.
 
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